*the swim up bar??

casmanApril 6, 2009

So we are getting down to the nitty gritty of the details, discussing our wishes with 3 final PB's, have ruled out some things (beach entry) and made other things a must (spa, swg, led) - and we are stuck on the swim up bar.

One of the PB's seems to not want to do it at all, said "don't do the pit" - said it's dangerous, ugly, etc. We have a smaller type yard, and tying in an adult dry/wet seating area seemed to make sense - swim up bar is a must for the wife. Another PB threw out an unreasonable amount for the upgrade as if to discourage us. Nobody really has come up with a creative way to have 3-4 stools in the water, and also room for 3-4 dry folks to sit and enjoy the pool. The best plan i've seen is one that had a two level oval bar, one at pool deck level, a 10' oval pit, some planters to block the wall, and a different raised bar top on the outside for the "dry" folks.

anyone do a swim up bar that can have some dry folks sitting outside? Nobody giving a great thought, and wife wants to be able to work the bar by being inisde the pit, and tending to swimmers and non. Also want it as a nerve center for the yard, stereo in the bar, ice chest (no bbq, that will be near the upper patio) and really just an adult liquor station, that we can use at parties when folks arent swimming....pls advise/post some pics of things that worked!!

I almost did one and the PB's were around 4-8k for it. Don't do built in seats as the cleaner will snag around the seat itself, rather put in umbrella sleves and have the seats be removable. You can buy the seats online they are basically plastic seat with a stainless steel post. It looks so much better and you don't always have to use the area as a bar because the seats can come out. I have pictures of various swim up bar and the design that I did for ours (although we aren't using it). Post your email and I will send it to you.

email is casanimal@yahoo.com -- thanks!!! price seems about right, the one PB threw out 28k, seemed like he wanted to discourage as the rest of the prices were somewhat normal. any link to these removable seats? am concerned about the cleaner too...

We did a swim up bar like you discussed. Didn't cost any extra and our cleaner has yet to get caught up on it. If it's designed right, that won't be an issue. I disagree that removable seats look better, but to each his own.

amazing pictures - i still haven't seen one that somehow acts as a regular bar on the other side, maybe this is not possible from a construction standpoint...the swim up bar will be basically in the middle of the yard, so was thinking of grading out the non pool side of the yard (lawn) a couple feet lower so when someone walks u to the backside of the pit, it is at regular bar height? Too ambitious??

Check out this thread link. About half way down there are some fantastic pool picks posted just-a-poolbuilder. It show a wonderful pool with water stools on one side and regular barstools on the other side of a shared bar. Great concept if terrain allows for it.

outstanding - i sent a couple pics to the two pb's i'm talking to see how they would place it and construct a similar set up. I guess if you do a swim up bar that is higher out of the water, and the stools up out of the water then it would be closer to regular bar height and the bar pit would not have to be dug as deep. For our purposes this works better, the moms can sit and dangle their feet in the water at the bar, and not as much of a pit to fall into for the kiddies. Thanks to all who replied with the wonderful comments and pictures.

Not sure what the link is above. I think the business owners were trying to do a little biz 101 here, BUT, I have two of their Liquidseat products in my pool backyard. My wife and I are in our late 20s and we've got a 4 bed house in Austin, TX. The backyard pool is basically a little lap pool only about 5 feet at its deepest. Naturally, we still like to have folks over for drinks, listen to music, and what have you. I LOVE the liquidseat pool seats. No issues with cleaning them, easy to put in, get out. I'm usually posted up on one of them on the weekeneds haha! I definitely recommend looking into getting one of these bad boys if you're looking to do a pool bar on a budget.